China Hit by Rare April Floods Forcing Hundreds of Residents to Evacuate
By Ap Correspondent
More than 200 residents forced to flee southern Chinese city after heavy flooding
Heavy flooding triggered by torrential downpours has forced the evacuation of more than 200 residents and left cars submerged in a southern Chinese city, state media reported on Tuesday. Qinzhou city, located in the Guangxi region, experienced significant disruption.
Official news agency Xinhua detailed how rescue crews deployed inflatable boats to relocate individuals trapped inside their homes. Video footage released by Xinhua depicted rescuers wading through chest-high water, with firefighters seen carrying elderly residents to safety amidst the widespread inundation.
Qinzhou authorities said the city’s meteorological station recorded rainfall of over 270 millimeters (about 10 inches) during a 24-hour period ending at 8 a.m. on Monday. That was the highest amount recorded there on a single day in April.
The authorities quoted meteorological analyst Lin Nan in a WeChat post saying that such intense rainfall in South China’s coastal regions typically occurs only after the arrival of the summer monsoon in mid to late May. It is rare to see such a heavy downpour in late April, Lin said.
Stranded residents are evacuated on a boat after flooding from heavy rainfall in Qinzhou in southern China’s Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.
On Tuesday morning, schools across the city resumed classes and traffic ran normally in most places, according to a news outlet operated by the Chinese emergency management authorities.
In August last year, disasters in China killed at least 122 people and caused nearly £2.2bn in economic losses, underscoring the growing toll of 2025’s extreme monsoon season across Asia.
The Ministry of Emergency Management said more than 10 million people were affected by a succession of disasters in August, ranging from flash floods to droughts. Roads, homes and farmland were damaged, with direct economic losses reaching 19.6bn yuan (£2.03bn).
The ministry said flooding was particularly destructive in 2025. Record rain lashed the Asian country’s north and south in what meteorologists described as extreme weather linked to climate change.
Heavy rains and flooding had alreasy killed dozens of people across northern China, including Beijing, in July. In the early days of August, floods in Gansu province killed 10 people.
A record 622.6mm of rain fell on Guangzhou, the provincial capital, from August 2-6, almost three times the monthly average for the city in August. At least seven people were killed due to flooding there, state media reported.
